A Two-Day Bath, No Joke

So my cousins visited from Canada! While they were in Japan the three of us took a 3 day trip to Kyushu, a huge island making up a large part of South West Japan. It was a wonderful trip.

We first went to Beppu, which is known for the glorious Onsen. I think i've mentioned the Onsen, but incase I wasn't clear, i'll explain it again. It's basically a public bath where you bathe infront of people and you're naked. Men and women are separate of course. So you go in and wash your body and then hang out in the hot hot pools (some in door, some outdoor) and relax. We went to about 6 differen Onsen on this vacation. Basically bathing for 2 days straight. :)

I'll tell you about all the cool stuff we tried. First we did the dry sand bath. This one was the best because although you have to bury yourself in sand, it is surprisingly easy, and you get VERY HOT under the sand. I was so relaxed I fell asleep for like 15 mins. Maybe I have never been this relaxed in my life ever. It's relaxing just talking about it.

The next special bath we went in was the wet sand bath. This one wasn't as impressive as the dry sand bath because the sand is so heavy and you don't get as hot. We were only timed to be in it for 10 mins...but I was actually in pain because my pelvis was tilted weird, so I was glad to get out.

Then we tried the mud bath! Seriously so cool. Andrea and Jessica were maybe a little weirded out, but I loved the weirdness. It was just such smooth water and the mud felt really cool. This bath was mixed, and there were just 2 men in it with us. It was night time though, so we didn't feel that weird.

Lastly, we tried the sulfur bath. This one was super hot, and yeah in the beginning we thought the smell was kinda gross, but then it grew on us! The sulfur water felt really smooth and it's apparently really good for the skin. I would do it again for sure.

So in between all those special baths we were in various regular hot water baths, indoor and outdoor. If you ever come to Japan I highly recommend experiencing this at least one time.

The second part of our trip was to visit Aso-San (San means mountain) in Kumamoto Prefecture. Aso is a small town in Japan that is in a massive crater that holds some volcanoes. The currently active volcano is called Naka-Dake, and this is another major tourist spot in Japan. We went to Kumamoto Prefecture to specifically see this mountain and what an amazing experience it was. I have many pictures up on my website of the volcano!!!

So please go there to check it out. I've also posted more pics from various events. They are dated because I can't change the order in which they appear.

Happy viewing!!!!